Castro Has First HUD Secretary Confirmation Hearing Tuesday

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro delivered the keynote address at this year's commencement at the LBJ School of Business at UT-Austin.

Erika Rich/BDP

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro will go before a Senate confirmation committee Tuesday, the first step in the process of becoming the new leader of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

In May, President Barack Obama nominated the three-term San Antonio mayor for the job, replacing Shaun Donovan.

If confirmed, Castro said while he'll be focused on housing in his new role, he's always been a strong supporter of education and hopes that's how he'll be remembered.

"What I hope my number one legacy will be, whenever I'm done serving as mayor, is that more of our young people are graduating from high school, going on to college and graduating and reaching their own dreams the way that I've been blessed to grow up here and reach my dreams," he told Texas Public Radio.

Today he helped hand out awards inside city council chambers to businesses for the 2014 Healthy Workplace Recognition Program.

Afterward, a swarm of media caught up with him, only to hear the three-term mayor say what he's said before.

"All I'm going to say today is that I enjoy being mayor, and I'm going to continue to work hard on behalf of the people that elected me," Castro said. "I'll talk about the future and other things later."

Julián Castro will be President Obama's next secretary of housing and urban development, sources close to the San Antonio mayor said Saturday.

The New York Timesconfirmed the move to HUD on Saturday, hours after the San Antonio Express-Newsreported that the 39-year-old was being considered for a position in the president's cabinet.

The sources said Castro, who had previously been considered for transportation secretary but chose to stay in San Antonio, was excited about the HUD post because he felt it fit better with his experience and interests. Urban development has been a pet issue of the mayor's in San Antonio.